CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language is a communication tool as statement and expression that has
meaning through human articulation. It means that someone uses language
to communicate and share idea, feeling, and information to each other in
daily life contexts. It shows the main function of language as the medium of
communication. Some countries consider English as the second and foreign
language to be learnt.1
Today, English has been the most important foreign language the
world. We can communicate with other people in the world by using
English. In Indonesia, English is the first foreign language taught from
elementary level to university.2
In Indonesia, English has very important role in technology and
scientific advances; instruments such as computer and internet use English.
Meanwhile, a lot of textbooks, newspapers and magazines are printed in
English. English is also used as a means of communication within
international trade and business. Consequently, people who want to have
access to them should English well.
Realizing the growing demand of English as an international means of
communication, it is reasonable that our government places English as a
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crucial subject in our education system. Projects have been conducted in
order to improve English teaching and learning in Indonesia one of which is
by revising the English curriculum.3
The certainly of English learner is giving good discourse in grammar.
While grammar or grammatical from is important for students who are
learning English, because it can help them to have full competence in
English. The students will be easy to learn if they master grammar or
grammatical, not only in writing but also in speaking.4
Writing is one of important skills because students’ skill can be
measured by it. They are grammar and vocabularies, it will be good, if the
mastery them. Beside that, they must have some ideas in their mind to
explorer that shown in their writing. Writing is a highest level for the study
in learning English because it is difficult skill.
In addition; writing is not only mastery grammar and vocabularies, but
also part of class and kind of text. There are kinds of text in writing. They
are exposition, description, argumentative, and narration. One of them is
description text, the writer uses this text to the study, it is caused; it is use to
be of simple present tense and familiar. According to Sanggam Siahaan and
Kisno Shinoda; description is a written English text in which the writer
2
Ida Nurmila, The Student’s Strategies in Composing Comparison and Contrast Essay by the Fifth Semester of English Department Students of the State Islamic College of Palangka Raya, thesis, 2011, p.1.
3
Tias Evi Hidayah, A Correlation Between Student’s Mastering of Past Tense and Their Achievement in Writing Recount (The Case of Eleventh Year Students of SMA Weleri in the Academic Year of 2006/2007), University Semarang, Thesis, 2007, p. 3.
4
describes an object. In this text, the object can be a concrete or abstract. It
can be a person, or animal, or a house, or camping. It can be about topic.5
There are some factors should be mastered by the students. One of
them is grammar. A grammar as the important part of English, it is must be
mastered in order to be able to construct English sentences.6 Grammar is
concerned with the formatting and arranging word into sentences. One of the
basic sentences that are used to communicate in the daily activities is the
Simple Present Tense.7 Grammar is very essential to develop language
skills. Grammar enables the students known the rules, norms and the
sciences of the combination of words. Grammar is one of the important
elements that language learners should know in learning language.8 It is
important to know grammar, especially about tenses. According to Hornby:
tenses are any of the forms of verbs that may be used to indicate the time of
the action or state expressed by the verb.9
The tense is definitely seen in the form of the verb in a grammatically
sentence which shows the relation between the activity mentioned and the
time when the time the activity is carried out. Basically the tense is grouped
into the present and the past tense. The present tense indicates the present
5
Sanggam Siahaan & Kisno Shinoda, Generic Structure, Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu, 2008, p.89.
6
Andrew Radford, Syntax, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998, p.1.
7
Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, Teaching English as A Foreign Language, Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu, 2006, p.23-24.
8
Sri Wardaningsih, Problems in Applying of the Simple Present Tense at the First Year Student of Islamic Junior High School of An-Nur Palangka Raya, thesis, 2009, p. 2.
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time and the past tense indicates the past time. The two tenses are developed
by combining them with the simple, continuous, future, and the perfect
form.
In relation to the statement above, the students of MA Muslimat NU
have studied about simple present tense. In learning tense, there were many
students had some difficulties. The common difficulties faced by the
students were in using tense. It is known that, there three kinds of main
tense; they are simple present tense, past tense, and future tense. The
difficulties of students were: They did not understand howto make sentence
in nominal sentences, still confuse to use and especially in simple present
tense.
In this study the writer only focuses the discussion about simple
present tense. According to Azar, simple present tense expresses events or
situations that exist always, usually, habitually; the exist now, have existed
in the past, and probably will exist in the future.10
Based on the explanation before, the writer was interested in
conducting a research on the matter deeply. So, to know further information
about that, the writer intends to conduct a research entitled:
“The Analysis of Nominal Sentences of Simple Present Tense in
Descriptive Text Used by the Tenth Grade Students of MA Muslimat
NU Palangka Raya”
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B. Problems of the study
From the background of the study, they are two problems. They are:
1. How did the tenth grade students of MA Muslimat NU Palangka Raya
using form nominal sentence of simple present tense in the written
descriptive text products?
2. What factors did contribute to their difficulties in using nominal
sentence of present tense in writing descriptive text?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the problems above, so the objectives of this study are:
1. To know the extent of ability the tenth grade students of MA Muslimat
NU Palangka Raya on using nominal sentences of simple present tense
in writing descriptive text.
2. To find out factors contributing to difficulties of nominal sentences of
present tense usage in descriptive text as written by the tenth grade
students of MA Muslimat NU Palangka Raya.
D. Significances of the Study
In this study, there has two significances; they are theoretically
significance and practically significance. Theoretically, the result of the
research is expected to strength the exist theory and to improve the students
in using nominal sentences of present tense in writing descriptive text
correctly.
Others can use it practically, for the teachers, by reading the result of
nominal sentences form of present tense in descriptive text writing, so they
can find new methods to anticipate the making of difficulties and also to
improve their teaching ability. For the students, the result of this study can
provide information and evaluation, so they will try to avoid the same
difficulties in the next time.
E. Limitation of the Study
Focus on the written products of the tenth grade students using
nominal sentences of simple present tense in writing descriptive text.
F. Definition of Key Terms
The key terms of this study is an analysis of nominal sentences of
simple present tense used in descriptive text for the tenth grade students’ of
senior high school. The objective of this study is the usage of present tense
form of nominal sentence in descriptive text.
Before going to the next discussion, the researcher explains the
definition of analysis based on the website in http-www:
In linguistics, analysis is a study carried on a language to research that
language structure deeply.11According to Marzuki, an analysis in a study is
aimed to narrow and limit discoveries to be a regular data, arranged, and
more valuable. The process of analysis is an effort to obtain the answer of
questions about the formulations and lesson or something we acquired in
research project.12
11
Grace.ht t p:/ / w w w .analysis_linguist ics/ st at us/ def init ion/ ht ml, online on M arch 5th 2012.
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From the description above, it can be summarized that the analysis not
only analyze to find out errors from the object study but also to make a
certain unit into detailed parts. So the entire component from the object of
the study is understood well in the context the researcher analyzes the text to
identify.
English analysis is analysis about the flawed of language learner occur
in speech or writing. In this research, the writer will analyze of simple
present tense of to be applied in written descriptive text. The simple present
tense is a tense says something was true in the past, is true in the present,
and will be true in the future and also to express habitual or everyday
activity. Writing as a process is oriented toward work in progress and
development of new skills, rather than merely evaluative tasks, the
classroom practices, therefore, will vary from each other.13
According to Peter Elbow in Brown states, writing is a way to end up
thinking something you couldn’t have started out thinking.14
Based on these definitions, we can say that writing is a process or an
act to explore the ideas and express them in the writing form in order to
make them concrete and visible.
In addition; Writing is never a one-step action; it is an ongoing creative
act. When you first write something, you have already been thinking about
what to say and how to say it. Then after you have finished writing, you read
13
Endang Fauziati, Teaching of English as A Foreign Language(TEFL), Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press, 2002, p.151.
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over what you have written and make changes and correction. You write and
revise again until you are satisfied that your writing expresses exactly what
you want to say.
The process of writing has roughly four steps. In the first step, you
create ideas. In the second step, you organize the ideas. In the third step, you
write a rough draft. In the final step, you polish your rough draft by editing it
and making revision.15
E. Outlines of the Study
In order to give the guidance for the writer and the readers in
understanding the research paper, the writer makes an outline about the
content of the research as follows:
Chapter I : Is introduction that consists of background of the study,
problems of the study, objectives of the study, significances
of the study, definition of key terms, and outlines of the
study.
Chapter II : Is review related literature that consists of previous studies,
tense, English tense, simple present tense, descriptive text,
definition of difficulty, and theory of SLA (Second Language
Acquisition), and frame of thinking.
Chapter III : Is research method consists of time and place of the study,
approach and type of the study, subject and object of the
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study, the techniques of collecting the data, endorsement of
data, and data analysis procedures.
Chapter IV : Is the result of the study.
